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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26447845">Burn Away The Darkness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StorytellerElaine/pseuds/StorytellerElaine'>StorytellerElaine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Luffy's Adventures Through Time [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ASL Brothers, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Badass Monkey D. Luffy, D Brothers, Gen, Good Captain Monkey D. Luffy, Haki (One Piece), Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates As Family, Nakamaship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Protective Monkey D. Luffy, Protective Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, Protective Older Brothers, Protective Portgas D. Ace, Smart Monkey D. Luffy, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:02:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,337</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26447845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StorytellerElaine/pseuds/StorytellerElaine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One moment Luffy was training in Wano with old man Hyo. Tama and Momo were cheering him on and the next he was falling in the deck of the Going Merry and scaring the crap out of his past crew and his brother Ace. Luffy is really getting tired of time travel. Why is he here? And why is he seeing the ghost of Gold Roger? And what did he mean by Luffy needing to save Vivi, Ace and Sabo? Just what the hell was going on?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Portgas D. Ace, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Luffy's Adventures Through Time [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964398</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>296</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Burn Away The Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Another time travel story with Wano!Luffy going back in time. This time physically. Hope you enjoy.</p><p>You might think that Luffy is a little out of character in this and I know a lot of people complain about Oda never giving Luffy character development but I really believe that if you put Alabasta!Luffy (for example) and Wano!Luffy side by side you would see the difference. Post-TS!Luffy while still being well Luffy is different in many ways from Pre-TS!Luffy.</p><p>P.S - Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luffy sure isn't in Wano anymore. He really was starting to hate time travel.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>New story, hope you like it!<br/>Thanks for reading! :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He concentrated on his Haki one more time and let the power flow inside his body. Grandpa Hyo said he needed to be calm and direct his Haki towards his arm. Luffy could feel his Haki slowly moving all over his body and stopping once it was resting comfortably in Luffy's right arm, it kinda tickle. It almost felt as if a colony of a thousand ants were running up and down his arm. It felt so weird, Luffy suppressed a shiver and prepared himself to attack.</p><p>"Don't press too hard, Straw Hat Man. Let it flow at it's own pace, don't push it," Grandpa Hyo said and Luffy nodded.</p><p>Luffy had been successful a few times already. But he had only tried the technique against trees and rocks. Grandpa Hyo said that Luffy had advanced enough on his training and could now start trying the technique against some animals. That's why Luffy has to concentrate even more than before now. He didn't want to accidentally hurt one of Tama's new friends.</p><p>The girl had been kind enough to tame some animals to assist him during his training. Luffy had protested, of course. He told the girl that she didn't need to do that, that Luffy could just use his Conqueror's Haki for that. But Tama gave Luffy a look that made him understand the reason why his big brother Ace used to always complain so much about 'puppy dog eyes', so Luffy sighed in defeat and finally gave in, much to the little girl's delight and after a celebratory dance Luffy finally let Tama do her little trick.</p><p>Luffy let out a breath and opened his eyes, he concentrated on his target and punched his arm forward. The big lizard <em>thingy </em>that was in front of him was sent flying, it hit a few trees and snapped them in half, it finally stopped once it hit a big rock, the lizard <em>thingy</em> fell to the ground, leaving a lizard shaped hole in the rock. For a moment, Luffy wondered if the thing was still alive, he got his answer when the thing moved it's head and tried to get up, when it realized that it couldn't, it just lay there with it's tongue out and eyes closed.</p><p><em>'Oops, guess I kind of over did it, huh.'</em> Luffy thought and turned to look at the others.</p><p>Momo had stopped his sword training and was staring wide eyed at the big lizard <em>thingy. </em>Luffy still wasn't sure what exactly it was. There were a bunch of weird animals running around this region of Wano. Grandpa Hyo had sweat on his forehead and his eyes were wide and his mouth was open. Tama on the other hand was looking at Luffy with so much pride and admiration and it was kind of making Luffy a little uncomfortable. </p><p>"You did it, Aniki!" Tama cheered, jumping up and down with a big grin on her face. The girl laughed happily and gave Luffy a mug full of orange juice that Sanji made for them earlier.</p><p>Momo finally snapped out of his trance and quickly asked Grandpa Hyo if it was true that he could do something like that with his sword. Grandpa Hyo smiled and started explaining things to the kid.</p><p>Luffy, Momo and Tama had spend the whole morning training with Grandpa Hyo. It was already getting closer to lunchtime, if Luffy concentrated enough he could smell the delicious food Sanji was cooking back at their little camp. Luffy's stomach growled. Sanji hadn't called them yet, so that meant he still had more time to train. The faster he mastered the technique, the faster they could defeat Kaido. At least that's what Luffy liked to think.</p><p>Luffy didn't know why, but he had a weird feeling, as if something was telling him that he needed to get out of Wano and check what was going on in the outside world as soon as possible. For some reason, he had been dreaming about Sabo a lot. Vivi was also present in some of his dreams. Luffy didn't know why. Was it because he had seen a picture of her before coming here? A weird feeling was consuming Luffy's heart little by little, a feeling that he had ignored two years ago and by the time he took action, he had already been too late. Sabo and Vivi have their own adventures and duties but Luffy wasn't going to let <em>that</em> happen twice. No way in hell.</p><p>Luffy drank all the juice in one go and shook his head, mentally telling those thoughts to go away. Luffy needed to concentrate. The sooner they defeated Kaido, the better. Luffy turned to another weird looking animal and tried to ignore the others in the background and started to focus on his training.</p><p>When Luffy took a deep breath the smell of blood and sea invaded his nostrils. Suddenly,  Luffy's vision started to get blurry. He tried to tell the others to run away from here and get some help from the others but he couldn't move an inch of his body, he was frozen in place.</p><p>Just what the hell was happening to him? Was the juice poisoned? But no, that's impossible, Sanji made that juice, besides poison didn't affect him. Not unless it was an extremely big amount of it or a very, very potent one and Luffy would have smelled it or tasted it when he drank the juice. <em>Right?</em></p><p>Was he drugged? No, that couldn't be possible either. <em>Sanji made that juice,</em> and Sanji would never do something like that. Neither would Tama, that little girl has a heart of gold too big for her body. Besides, Luffy was sure no one else had come near them ever since Sanji brought the juice for them. Grandpa Hyo had been right behind him this whole time and Momo had been practicing his swordsmanship on the same spot for hours. None of them had moved from their spots for quite some time now.</p><p>There was the possibility that it could have been someone who just looked like Sanji, wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. But who? Besides, Luffy was sure that by this point he could have felt it or recognized the signs of someone trying to act like one of his friends. Luffy knew his friends.</p><p>Besides he was pretty sure there was nobody in Kaido's crew with an ability like that. Weren't those guys all about Zoans? None of the other Supernovas in Wano could do something like that either, at least Luffy didn't think so. Traffy probably could swap one of the ice cubes with some kind of drug, but that was ridiculous. Why would Traffy do that to Luffy? Big Mom's crew on the other hand could do something like that, but Chopper had said that it had been just Big Mom on that beach, no signs of her crew, whatsoever. There was also that Orochi guy, according to Robin, he has a group of ninjas at his disposal. Ninjas could transform right? They could hide themselves too, right? Or something like that, Raizo said something about it or something. Damn, he was getting dizzy, he couldn't think straight anymore.</p><p>What was happening to him? Were they found out? Was this Kaido's doing? Was it Orochi? Big Mom? Is there a traitor among them? There had been suspicions about it, but would the traitor really go that far? Getting rid of him before the battle, was that the plan? Would they really give themselves away just to get rid of him. That didn't sound very smart, or did it? At least Luffy didn't think so. What the hell was happening to him?</p><p>A tall dark cloaked figure suddenly materialized in front of Luffy. The thing raised a hand and put it on the center of Luffy's 'X' scar, Luffy felt a chill ran all over his body. That hand was cold, colder than anything he had felt before, not even Drum Island, Ruskaina, or Punk Hazard had been that cold. For a moment, Luffy thought he was going to turn to ice on the spot, just like that time with Aokiji. The hand gave Luffy a push, it wasn't a very strong push but Luffy could feel himself falling and falling. There was some kind of shockwave in the air around him and then Luffy started to fall faster than before. There was a loud cry of <em>'Cheers!'</em> and then Luffy's back and head hit a hard surface.</p><hr/><p>The Straw Hat Pirates were a happy bunch who liked to party for whatever reason was thrown their way. Ace smiled, something like that was just so <em>Luffy</em>.</p><p>Ace is so glad that his little brother found a crew like the one in front of him right now. A crew that Luffy could call his friends and family. A crew that accepted his baby brother just the way he was. The kid deserved nothing less than that. Of course, Ace would still try to steal Luffy away, he was sure that the kid would fit perfectly in Whitebeard's crew but for the meantime he was happy from the little he has seen. Ace would have to stick around for a final judgment but things were looking pretty good for now.</p><p>Luffy's crew still had a long way to go, of course. They weren't 100% ready for the Grand Line yet, but they were getting there. Some of them were a little more open minded than the others. That navigator girl was going to have such a hard time in the Grand Line. From what Ace has seen and heard, that girl loves her logic, too bad that doesn't exist in here. She also seems to have quite a temper on her, which was funny, because she's one of the first ones to tell Luffy and the others not to fight but also the one to throw the first punch when something or someone annoys her. Twenty years in this world and Ace still couldn't understand girls.</p><p>Some of them were very cowardly too, Ace could tell right away. He knew it sounded harsh but they either needed to fix that problem or leave the crew. Their Captain's dream was to be King of the Pirates and while Ace could see that they respected that dream, they really didn't know what that implied, they didn't know what Luffy meant by that. They have no idea the kind of monsters that would be coming after them, whether they looked for trouble or not, it didn't matter. As Luffy's bounty and reputation increases, so would their enemies. They needed to start taking it seriously or they would meet their end sooner rather than later.</p><p>There was also the fact that if you decided to become a pirate, that meant you were putting your life on the line, it's all or nothing. Fear needed to be thrown out of the window as soon as you decided to live the life of a pirate. Cowards don't get too far away when you have the whole world coming after you. He could see that some of them understood that. From now on it was kill or be killed, there was no such thing as running away. But some of them don't understand that yet, Ace hopes that they figure that out fast, because if they don't, then his little brother would suffer a lot and Ace didn't want that.</p><p>There was also the fact about Luffy's lineage. The kid needed to know about his father as soon as possible, but the old geezer had said that it wasn't the right time yet. That Dragon needed to make the first move. Ace gritted his teeth, that man didn't deserve Luffy. Ace is worry sick, Ace's relationship with <em>that man</em>, couldn't be put together that easily. But Luffy was a different case, Ace was sure that there were people out there that know about the relationship that Garp and Dragon share. Ace had noticed how his Oyaji had stared at Luffy's name when Ace showed him Luffy's wanted poster and it made him worry, Ace didn't want Luffy to live with the burden he himself carries. Luffy didn't show it, but Ace knew that words <em>did</em> affect him.</p><p>There was so much Luffy's crew needed to learn and understand and there were so many secrets Luffy needed to know, but those weren't Ace's secrets to tell and he couldn't sit Luffy's crew down and explain everything about the Grand Line either, they needed to find all that out on their own. Besides, Ace was sure the navigator girl wouldn't believe him and some of the others would probably have a heart attack. So he swallowed the rant that was building up and smiled alongside them, he raised his mug and clanked it with theirs with a cry of cheers.</p><p>Ace was going to have one hell of an adventure with them.</p><p>Ace's Observation Haki alerted him of <em>something </em>coming towards them and fast. Were they under attack? <em>Again?</em> But there wasn't any ship nearby, Ace was sure of that. Luffy's head snapped towards the sky so fast that Ace was sure that if the kid wasn't made of rubber then his neck would be broken right now. Ace looked at the sky too and out of the corner of his eye he could see that the swordsman and the cook were doing the same. The only ones that didn't seem to notice that something was wrong were the reindeer, the princess, the navigator and the liar. Ace tried not to sigh and concentrated on what he was seeing. What was that?</p><p>There was something red coming towards them and it was coming in fast. It kept getting closer and closer. Soon, sooner than Ace was expecting it, the whatever it was, fell right in front of them. There was a sound of wood breaking and a groan of pain.</p><p>Ace and Luffy dropped their mugs and got into a fighting stance. The cook put the princess and the navigator behind him and stood protectively in front of them, the swordsman unsheathed his swords faster than any swordsman Ace has ever seen, and the liar and the reindeer started screaming and panicking and quicky found a place to hide. Ace tried not to sigh and concentrated on his Haki. The thing's aura felt familiar but at the same time it felt different, distant and cold. There was something else there too, but Ace couldn't understand it well yet.</p><p>The thing groaned in pain. "Fuck that hurt, you bastard! Just what the hell happened?!" The thing said and everyone stiffened.</p><p>Sure, the voice was a little different, but everyone in the ship could recognize that voice anywhere. The thing, no, <em>the man</em>. Because now that he looked closer, Ace could tell that it was a human man, started rubbing his face and slowly getting up. Once the man put his hands down with another groan and looked at them everyone froze.</p><p>Sure, there were some differences here and there, but they could see who the man was. Or at least, who he was trying to look like. For starters, their Luffy didn't have a topknot or wore yukatas - (or was it a kimono? Whatever fashion wasn't Ace's stronghold) - and Ace knew that his little brother didn't particularly like being shirtless.</p><p>Their Luffy also didn't have a body that was so, so, so <em>developed</em>, for the lack of a better word, and he sure as hell doesn't have that big and ugly 'X' shaped scar on his chest. Seriously, whoever he was, the man was doing a very poor job at cosplaying their Luffy. The only thing he got right was the scar under his eye, the sandals and the straw hat around his neck. No, scratch that. Even the sandals look different.</p><p>The man looked around the ship and then at all of them very carefully. Eyes going extremely wide when he got to Ace. For a moment, there was a mix of emotions in the man's eyes but they were quickly replaced with an emotionless mask that Ace recognized as the face Luffy does when he's trying to hide something, most commonly the way he really feels. But that was impossible, that man wasn't his little brother. His adorable baby brother was standing right beside him and he didn't look so cold. The kid was a ball of happiness and energy that brightened everyone's day with just a smile. Ace's baby brother wasn't cold or emotionless and he would never be. Ace would make sure of it.</p><p>"Just what the hell was in that juice?" The man said and that seemed to break whatever spell came over them.</p><p>The swordsman and the cook started to attack the man but the man only dodged their attacks and it didn't even look like he was trying, Ace frowned. Was the man using Haki? But Haki was almost nonexistent here in Paradise. Did he come from the New World, then? Just like Ace. But who was he? Was he a pirate? A marine? A revolutionary? He was a fighter for sure, so he wasn't a simple civilian even by Grand Line standards. He looked a lot like Luffy, except older, a little bit more mature. Then was he another one of Dragon's sons? But Ace was sure Luffy was the only one. At least that's what that old geezer had said.</p><p>"Seriously, what happened? Was I drugged or something?" The man asked no one in particular, effortlessly dodging another attack from the swordsman and the cook. Everything happened so fast, Ace was sure half of the crew didn't see it. The man dodged what seemed like a combined attack from the cook and the swordsman, but since the man dodged the attack, the cook ended up kicking the swordsman in the stomach and the swordsman slashed one of the cook's arms with one of his swords. </p><p>Everything seemed to stop for a moment, Ace could tell that Luffy's crew didn't exactly believe what just happened. Not even the cook and the swordsman seemed to believe what they've just accidentally done to each other. They stared blankly at one another and then in a blink of an eye started arguing about not getting in each others way, completely forgetting about the man that was still standing right in front of them, the man was looking at them with an amused smile on his face. After a second or two the man started laughing.</p><p>"Are the two of you really Zoro and Sanji? Because that was just pathetic. Shishishi," the man said with a laugh but that only made Luffy angry.</p><p>Luffy started attacking the man, telling him not to talk like that to the crew of the future King of the Pirates. Luffy's crew seemed to breath a sigh of relief, clearly thinking that Luffy would win the fight and that the man was done for. But Ace wasn't so sure about that. Ace has seen Observation Haki in action way too many times in his life already to not recognize it right away.</p><p>Sure enough, the man just once again effortlessly dodged any attacks Luffy threw his way, that just resulted in Luffy getting angrier and more frustrated by the minute. The man seemed to get tired of all the attacks and grabbed one of Luffy's stretched arms and pulled, stopping the collision with his other hand. He let go of Luffy's arm and with one finger flicked Luffy's forehead and dropped him to the floor.</p><p>"Ow, ow, ow. That hurt!" Luffy said from the floor while rubbing his forehead. Luffy's crew shouted a collected shocked. "WHAT?!"</p><p>"That hurt?! How did that hurt? You're made of rubber!" The cook asked, he sounded angry and worried. Now, <em>they</em> might not know why <em>that</em> hurt Luffy, but Ace knew why. That man hurt his little brother and Ace was going to make him pay.</p><p>"If you use your <em>Fire Fist</em> now, you're going to burn the whole ship down," The man said.</p><p><em>Wait, what?</em> How did he know? Was the man aware of who Ace was? Whatever, it didn't matter, the man was right after all. He couldn't do that to his brother's ship.</p><p>What to do? What to do?</p><p>"That won't work either." <em>God dammit!</em> Ace had enough.</p><p>"Just who the hell are you? How do you know what I'm going to do before I do it?!" Ace asked angrily, one fire fist raised, ready to attack. Ace could feel Luffy's crew looking from him and then to the man, the princess stepped forward and said in a small but confident voice. "He's Mr. 2."</p><p><em>Mr. Who</em> <em>now?</em> Ace didn't know what the girl meant by that but the man clearly knew who '<em>Mr. 2</em>' was because he started laughing.</p><p>"Oh, that's right. You already met Bon-chan. But I'm not him," the man said dismissively.</p><p>"Yeah, I don't believe you. I still think you're him! Did Cocodrile send you here to mess with us?" Cocodrile? As in <em>Sir Cocodrile</em> from the <em>Seven Warlords of the Sea?</em> The famous '<em>hero</em>' of Alabasta? What did Luffy's crew have to do with <em>that guy</em>? And who the hell was <em>Mr. 2</em>? Just what the hell was going on here?</p><p>Wait.</p><p>Wait, wait, wait.</p><p><em>WAIT</em>.</p><p>If Ace remembered correctly, that girl had introduced herself as Princess Vivi of Alabasta. Princess Vivi? Cocodrile? Mr. 2? Wait, wait, wait. Don't tell me.<em> God fucking</em> <em>dammit</em>, what was Luffy doing in Alabasta?</p><p>"Okay, listen. I don't blame you for thinking that, but if I was Bon-chan, then wouldn't I look more like him?" The man pointed at Luffy, who was still in the floor, looking at the man with an intensity Ace hasn't seen before.</p><p>"Besides, Bon-chan can copy the appearance of anybody he touches but he <em>can't</em> copy their Devil Fruit abilities or memories." The man stretched his cheek. "See? I'm stretchy, just like <em>your</em> Luffy, and if you still don't believe me, then ask me something only <em>your</em> Luffy would know," the man suggested and the princess thought about it for a minute.</p><p>"Fine, if you're not Mr. 2, then <em>prove it to me,</em>" the princess demanded. The man looked curiously at her for a second and then his eyes widened in realization and he smiled.</p><p>"Under those bandages that you have around your arms there is a black 'X' mark. Zoro came up with the idea after we met Mr. 2 and I suggested the 'X' because we're pirates, and we promised that no matter what happened while we were in Alabasta, that mark would always be the symbol of our friendship," The man said with a nostalgic smile on his face, he was clearly remembering a nice moment. Ace could see the eyes of everyone else widening but he didn't know why that answer seemed to cause that reaction. He didn't know who Mr. 2 was and while he had noticed the bandages he didn't have time to ask about them with everything that happened.</p><p>"But how did you..." the princess trailed off with a frown.</p><p>"It's obvious, isn't it? That man is me, aren't you?" Luffy asked and finally got up from the floor but he never took his eyes off the man.</p><p>Now, Ace knew that Luffy wasn't the sharpest knife in the set, but he also knew the kid had really good instincts. That was one of the things he always bragged to Oyaji and his siblings about his baby brother. The kid could tell things just by looking at them. Sometimes he didn't even had to look. It's like he could sense stuff. One time, Oyaji had even suggested that maybe Luffy had been born with his Observation Haki already awakened, Marco thought otherwise, though. His fellow commander believed that Luffy was an empath and said that if one day Luffy learns Observation Haki he would be a force to be reckoned with. Luffy's crew might not know it yet, but when Luffy suggested something about a person or place, he was always right.</p><p>"What do you mean, Lu?" Ace asked and his little brother shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it but I know he's me."</p><p>"But that's impossible, Luffy! There can't be two of you at the same time! Isn't he just another brother of yours? Or maybe just someone who looks like you?" The navigator girl asked. Yeah, Ace was expecting something like that from her, Ace knows that it sounded impossible to believe, but they were in the Grand Line. Weirder things had happened. Besides, Ace knows Luffy, he knows about the kid's weird instincts.</p><p>"He's right, Nami. <em>I'm </em>him and <em>he's</em> me. I don't really know how. Am I dreaming? But I was training, not sleeping and I don't remember passing out. Was I drugged? Poisoned? But poison doesn't affect me, and you guys don't seem like a hallucination. Time travel, maybe? But how? Am I in the past? Are you in the future?..." During his rant the man started walking from one side to the other with his arms crossed.</p><p>"Time travel is not real, Luffy! Seriously, how stupid can you get?!" The navigator screamed, a thick mark appeared on her forehead. The man sighed.</p><p>"It's real," he continued after the navigator's interruption. "But this doesn't seem like the work of the Time-Time Fruit, because it looks more like I'm in the past, and Kin'emon did said that you could only go forward and not backwards. Maybe there's another version of the fruit? One sends you to the past and the other one to the future..."</p><p>"Don't be stupid, that's not possible either," the navigator interrupted again. Now, Ace knew that different versions of certain Devil Fruits existed but he stayed quiet, that girl could figure that out on her own, and a Time-Time Fruit? Weren't Marco and Oyaji talking about something like that existing once? Everyone thought it was just a myth though.</p><p>"It is possible," the man continued, ignoring the girl's interruption once again. "But if I'm really in the past then wouldn't I remember this? So, did someone mess with my memories? Or is this some kind of alternate dimension thingy?..."</p><p>"Alternate dimensions are not real, either!" The navigator girl screamed again, her face was an angry red by this point. The man paused again and he looked at the sky. To ask for patience or to cursed it, Ace couldn't tell you. That man was hard to read. Which was funny and weird, because Ace's baby brother has always been an open book to him.</p><p>"You guys really need to stop underestimating Devil Fruits. Besides, this is the Grand Line. You need to throw logic out of the window as soon as you see Reverse Mountain. Haven't you noticed? <em>I'm</em> older than <em>your</em> Luffy. Which can only mean one thing. <em>I'm</em> from the future. Right now, me and Ace are way more experienced than all of you put together." The others stared wide eyed at the man. Becuase he called then inexperienced? Because he scolded the navigator? Ace didn't know, but with what Ace has heard and seen, then it was true, that man was more experienced than any of them, himself not included, of course.</p><p>"How old are you?" Ace asked, examining the man with a frown.</p><p>"Nineteen."</p><p>"Wow, you're a year younger than Ace. That's so cool. You look so different too," their Luffy said in excitement and walked closer to the man, the kid ignored Ace's protests and  stood right in front of the man and started looking him up and down.</p><p>"You're a little taller than me," Luffy pointed out. "You have more muscle than me too. That's so cool, how did you do that?" He asked while poking one of the man's arms.</p><p>"Your skin is a little darker than mine too, and your hair is longer than mine. How did you get that scar?" Luffy pointed to the big 'X' shaped scar in the man's chest. "And that one too," Luffy said while pointing to a scar on the man's side. Unlike the one on his chest, that one looked recent. The man stiffened.</p><p>"I can't tell you that," the man answered.</p><p>"But why not?" Luffy asked with a pout.</p><p>"<em>Because</em>, it doesn't matter what this is. Time travel or alternate reality. I can't afford to screw up the timeline, not even <em>I'm</em> dumb enough to do <em>that</em>. I've got enough problems on my hands already as it is," the man answered and crossed his arms.</p><p>"Come on, I'm sure nothing bad would happen. Tell me, tell me. Did we get more crew members? Did we became even stronger? What kind of adventures did you had? Have you seen any interesting islands or creatures? Did we find any treasure? Come on, tell me," Luffy pleaded, he pouted and gave the man the puppy dog eyes he was famous for, but nothing seemed to work on the man. He just looked more irritated than before.</p><p>"Oi, Luffy..." the swordsman started to say, but Ace could tell that it was already too late. The man was losing his patience very fast.</p><p>"Listen, kid. I'm only going to say this once. Go bother someone else," the man said and flicked Luffy in the forehead again, just like before, Luffy complain about the pain.</p><p>"Oi! Don't hit, Luffy!" Ace said and stepped protectively in front of his little brother, this reminded him way too much of their childhood with Garp. Just like that damn old geezer, this man knows Armament Haki, and he can hurt Luffy with it. He can even hurt Ace now that he thinks about it, not that Ace would let him, of course, but <em>still</em>.</p><p>"Listen, <em>they</em> might believe that you're a future version of Luffy or whatever but <em>I</em> don't. You said to ask you something only Luffy and that person would know right? Then tell me, how many brothers does Luffy have?" Ace asked, he could see the confusion in the others' faces. No doubt some of them even thought he was being stupid. </p><p>But if this man really is Luffy then he would know what Ace meant and if Luffy's crew really know him then one look at Luffy would tell them that this was a very important question. That it wasn't stupid at all.</p><p>The man smiled. "Two," he answered. Ace could hear the gasps of surprise coming from Luffy's crewmates, but he ignored them and looked at the man. "Their names are Ace and Sabo, while growing up, we used to call ourselves the ASL Pirates." The man finished with a smile on his face and eyes full of nostalgia. It was the most emotion he has shown since he put up that cold and emotionless mask earlier.</p><p>"And where is Sabo now?" Ace asked and the man flinched, he cursed under his breath and looked at the floor and murmured something under his breath.</p><p>"I didn't catch that," Ace said harshly and the man flinched again.</p><p>"He's dead, the Celestial Dragon killed him when he was ten years old." Ace could see that saying all that had caused the man a lot of pain, Ace felt sorry for him and a little guilty, if that man really is Luffy, if he really is his little brother, then Ace just hurt him, badly. But he needed to do this and he was sure that both Luffys understood that, Ace didn't trust easily, period.</p><p>Ace turned towards Luffy's crew, he could see all the emotions running through their faces but he ignored them, he and Luffy didn't need their pity. "He's Luffy," he told them and turned to look back at the man.</p><p>"So, <em>Luffy</em>. What's with the outfit? This isn't your style." Ace asked and pointed at the half worn yukata - (kimono?) - the other Luffy was wearing.  It was red, which wasn't a surprise at all, but it also has some kind of blue...  suns? Flowers? And was that a yellow sash? Since when does Luffy wear that kind of clothes and <em>jeez</em>, when did his baby brother get so muscular. He thought he'll never get taller or build more muscle since rubber always comes back to it's natural shape but guess he was wrong.</p><p>"Oh, this? Don't worry about it, it was supposed to be a disguise, not that it worked much though," The other Luffy answered dismissively. Disguise? For what? And what did he mean by 'not worked'?</p><p>"So, since both Ace and Vivi are here, then that means we're in Alabasta, right?" Future!Luffy asked and they nodded. "Man, that brings back memories. I haven't been here in what? Two and half years? Three years? Something like that," Future!Luffy said and looked around the ship with a smile on his face but no emotion on his eyes. Once again he was hiding his emotions. Ace frowned.</p><p>"Yes, we're going to Yuba to look for the Rebel Army and Ace is looking for a man named Blackbeard," the liar, who had already come out of his hiding place alongside the reindeer said. Future!Luffy stiffened for a moment, he had a weird look on his face but it quickly dissapeared. Future!Luffy's stomach growled.</p><p>"Oh, that's right. I didn't eat lunch. I wonder what happened to the brats and the old man?" <em>The w</em><em>hat?</em></p><p>"You didn't eat?" The cook asked.</p><p>"You have kids?" The reindeer asked at the same time as the cook. Everyone froze at that question and Ace scowled. Future!Luffy's eyes widened.</p><p>"What?! No! They're not mine! They're... well it's complicated but let's say that they're my friends. Yeah, let's go with that." Future!Luffy's stomach growled again.</p><p>"Why haven't you eaten yet? You never miss a meal," the cook asked again. He looked worried, and yeah, Ace was too. Since Luffy was rubber then that meant he has a faster metabolism than any of them. Luffy was always hungry. Simply existing makes Luffy hungry and he tends to eat a lot, he never misses a meal and when he does, it was almost always because of something very important.</p><p>"Well, I ate breakfast this morning, but I've been training all morning. It was getting closer to lunchtime, Sanji was already preparing something to eat, but then I started falling and then I was here and you guys started attacking me," Future!Luffy explained. The swordsman raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"You? Training? What kind of training?" The swordsman asked while eyeing Future!Luffy. The man was about to reply but then he seemed to think about it and gave the swordsman an apologetic smile.</p><p>"Sorry, Zoro. I can't tell you that." Future!Luffy said and the swordsman frowned but nodded. The man's stomach growled again. The cook sighed.</p><p>"Whatever, let me go cook something for you. Anything in particular you want?" The cook asked, but Ace could tell he already knew the answer, Ace gave a small smile and like the rest of the crew waited for the cry of '<em>Meat</em>!'</p><p>"Oh thanks, Sanji. Anything you cook is fine with me," Future!Luffy said and smiled at the cook. He and the rest of the crew stared at the man weirdly, Ace frowned again. He was doing that a lot lately wasn't he?</p><p>"Whatever. Anyone else want anything?" The cook asked and after taking everyone's orders, the cook went to the kitchen. The princess followed him, taking their dirty mugs with her.</p><p>There was an awkward silence after the departure of the cook and the princess. The swordsman sat down on the floor and put his swords in his lap, the navigator checked the log pose and gave some orders to Luffy and the other two. Ace sat down on a barrel and observed the future version of his baby brother, out of the corner of his eye he could see that the swordsman was doing the same. </p><p>The man was looking around the ship but his face was blank, no emotion in his face or eyes at all. Ace knew it was a mask, a mask Luffy developed even before he met Ace and Sabo. After a minute or two, the man sat down on the floor but he didn't seem to be comfortable enough so he decided to lay on his back instead, he used his arms as a pillow and stared at the sky blankly. After a while the man started humming a tune Ace didn't recognize. It wasn't the first time Ace has heard Luffy humming, but the only song Ace's little brother could hum properly was Binks' Sake, a song that the Red Haired Pirates taught him how to sing or hum properly when Luffy was six years old.</p><p>The others songs Luffy has tried to hum or sing during the years had always been out of tune but not the one he was humming right now. Clearly, someone taught Luffy how to do it properly. Does Future!Luffy have a musician on his crew? Did the musician taught him the song? There were so many questions but Ace was sure he wouldn't get many answers if he asked, so he decided to just observe for now. Ace had a feeling this little visit wasn't a mistake or simple Devil Fruit abilities going crazy, this visit meant something and Ace had a feeling it had something to do with him. Ace sighed and didn't took his eyes away from the future version of his brother, Luffy might've changed  a lot in two years, but Ace wasn't the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates just because of his powerful fire. He would get to the bottom of all this and he would do it soon.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>To be continued...</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>- If you're wondering why Luffy didn't ask Sanji for meat is because I feel that after everything that went down at WCI and all the food problems at Wano, Luffy would be 100% happy with whatever Sanji throws his way. It doesn't matter what it is he just wants to taste Sanji's delicious food.</p><p>- If you're wondering why the SH are pretty chill about Future!Luffy rn is because they're putting their trust in Ace. They're like, well Ace isn't freaking out and he has been in the GL way longer than us so I guess this is kind of normal here?</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Have a great day! Please review, don't be shy. Thank you in advance for your comments and kudos.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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